Food products filled with cheese either alone or in combination with other filling ingredients are known. Examples of such food products include pastas, pretzels, pasties, pies and the like. It is generally preferred to use a filling that contains a high proportion of real cheese due to the desirable taste, texture, and other organoleptic qualities obtained when real cheese is used.
However, the use of real cheese as a filling in food products can give rise to a number of difficulties. For example, the properties of the cheese can be difficult to control. One or more of the components of the cheese, such as fat or moisture, can separate from the cheese and possibly migrate into the other ingredients of the food product. The cheese may not melt smoothly or may be difficult to work with at ambient temperatures.
The prior art describes cheese fillings that attempt to overcome one or more of these problems. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,482,575 Olds et al. describe a cheese filling that is shelf stable and that can withstand extrusion and heating. The product is aerated and contains powdered cheese. U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,433 to Lee et al. describes pasta products that may have a cheese filing. The filling comprises dehydrated cheese and cheese paste, bread crumbs, whole eggs and other ingredients. This product is shelf stable at ambient temperatures. Morano, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,366,750, describes ultra-low water activity fillings that may contain cheese. The fillings contain ultra-high surface area cellulose and have a water activity below 0.6.
Products containing savory fillings, particularly those containing a fatty ingredient such as cheese or meat, can become unpalatable when stored in refrigerated or frozen temperatures and then reheated for consumption. One reason for this is that the filling components, such as fat and water, can separate when frozen and reheated. Fat and/or water separated from the filling can cause the filling to become runny or migrate into other food components, adversely affecting their characteristics such as taste and texture.
The prior art fillings are generally solid at ambient temperatures and become flowable at elevated temperatures. A need exists for savory fillings that are processable at ambient temperatures, which melt smoothly without separation of components at eating temperatures, and which have pleasing taste, mouthfeel 1, and other organoleptic properties.